Lou Welcome, from Palmer's bestselling Oath of Office, is back in this heart stopping medical thriller. A desperate phone call embroils Lou in scandal and murder involving Dr. Gary McHugh, known around the Capital as the "society doc." Lou has been supervising McHugh, formerly a black-out drinker, through his work with the Physician Wellness Office. McHugh has been very cavalier about his recovery, barely attending AA and refusing a sponsor. But Lou sees progress, and the two men are becoming friends.

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Publisher's Summary

From The New York Times bestselling author of Oath of Office comes a gripping thriller at the crossroads of politics and medicineDr.

Lou Welcome, from Palmer's bestselling Oath of Office, is back in this heart stopping medical thriller. A desperate phone call embroils Lou in scandal and murder involving Dr. Gary McHugh, known around the Capital as the "society doc." Lou has been supervising McHugh, formerly a black-out drinker, through his work with the Physician Wellness Office.

McHugh has been very cavalier about his recovery, barely attending AA and refusing a sponsor. But Lou sees progress, and the two men are becoming friends. Now, McHugh has been found unconscious in his wrecked car after visiting a patient of his, the powerful Congressman Elias Colston, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Soon after McHugh awakens in the hospital ER, Colston's wife returns home to find her husband shot dead in their garage. She then admits to the police that she had just broken off a long-standing affair with McHugh.

Something about McHugh's story has Lou believing he is telling the truth, that the Congressman was dead when he arrived and before he blacked out. Lou agrees to look into matters, but when he encounters motive, method and opportunity he is hard pressed to believe in his friend - that is until a deadly high-level conspiracy begins to unravel, and Lou acquires information that makes him the next target.

Medical mysteries are not usually my preference, however Dr. Welcome does not seem to fit into a medical mystery. He is more of a detective. I find him to be a very likable character along with Cap his AA sponsor. I enjoyed this book and I will try the next one.

I reserve 4-Stars and 5-Stars for the "I can't put them down page turners" This is not in that category, but I did find it an interesting premise.

With "Political Suicide," Palmer returns to his likable protagonist, Lou Welcome, from his prior novel, "Oath of Office." Only, you don't necessarily have to listen to "Oath of Office" first, as "Political Suicide" tells a new story. Palmer does, sometimes, fetch afar for his plots; and I am hoping that he has done so, again, with this one. I don't want to believe that a plot like this one could actually be hatched in the upper echelons of power. Without giving away any surprises -- in deference to those who don't like "spoilers" -- this story deals with a despicable way of leveling the playing field in the war on terror. Medicine -- Palmer's usual theme -- plays only a subsidiary part here, demonstrating Palmer's gradual move toward the political-thriller genre. Some of the characterizations in "Political Suicide" do stretch credibility a bit -- like lawyer Sarah Cooper's sudden transformation from nasty to nice -- but the cute plot twist at the end of the story ameliorated that weakness to a certain extent for me. As with "Oath of Office," narrator Robert Petkoff does a good job reading us "Political Suicide," clearly distinguishing all the characters from one another with different voices and accents. If you like thrillers, and don't mind suspending disbelief just a bit, I recommend "Political Suicide" to you.

The hero, Dr. Louis Welcome, is incredible. He puts himself in remarkably dangerous situations to help a mere acquaintance. Really? He sheds light on baffling mysteries by engaging in research that any competent law firm would engage in -- so why, exactly, aren't the lawyers doing it? He is able to outmaneuver an elite military unit (the green berets on steroids) -- well, how elite can this unit be, if a middle aged ER doc can break into their facilities? All in all, in-credible.

I love political novels and I love medical novels and this combines the two.

Have you listened to any of Robert Petkoff’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Any additional comments?

Michael Palmer is one of my favorite authors and this book is better than most other authors' books, but it definitely falls below Palmer's usual standards. A little slow and unimaginative in spots, I would still take it over most other authors. If you have never read Michael Palmer, you will love it. If you are a Michael Palmer fan, you might be a little disappointed.

I enjoyed Oath of Office and thought this would be a good follow-on story. The medical portions are pretty good but there are some pretty glaring errors in the military portions. The whole story was a bit of a stretch with some serious lack of judgment from the two main characters. I'm not completely put off and may try some of Michael Palmer's other novels. This one was just kind of ho-hum for me though. The narration was good and that's what kept me listening to the end.

starts off well but slips into silliness. You can imagine that the experiments propping up the story do go on, however, the surrounding events are unbelievable and, personally, I think spoil the book. However, if you are one for "action" this may be something you will like.the narrator is fine, nothing jars and the female portrayals are as good as the male. I found it easy to distinguish between the character's voices, which is not always the case. I will probably get another of Mr Palmer's books, but have to say, this is not one I will listen to again.

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douglas

brixham, United Kingdom

4/13/13

Overall

"Easy and well read"

Easy to listen to we'll read I listen in the car to and from work no troublefollowing story

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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